EU support for UNESCO initiative to preserve Jewish documentary heritage in Ukraine

UNESCO has launched a new €2.2 million project aimed at preserving and promoting the rich documentary heritage of Jewish communities in Ukraine. 

The two-year initiative, funded by the EU,  will focus on digitising at-risk and damaged documents from ten memory institutions, training over 50 culture professionals in preservation techniques, and supporting artistic and research endeavours that highlight the contributions of Jewish heritage to Ukrainian culture. 

In light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the initiative will strengthen Ukrainian archives and memory institutions and their ability to preserve and create access to documentary heritage.

The project will also foster collaboration among researchers, artists, and journalists. Scholars will be supported to conduct studies on Jewish heritage, while journalists will be equipped to utilise archival materials for investigative and educational media projects. 

Additionally, grants will be provided to artists for creative interpretations of Jewish cultural heritage through visual arts, film, literature, and music. These collaborations will culminate in public events and multimedia projects that amplify the historical and cultural narratives of Jewish communities in Ukraine.

“Ukraine has a very important Jewish heritage, which is also threatened by the war and must be protected. Thanks to the European Union, UNESCO will contribute to advancing historical research and preserving the archives of Jewish culture in all regions of the country,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

This project joins other measures already taken by UNESCO to protect Jewish heritage in Ukraine. In December 2024, Babyn Yar, the site of one of the largest massacres of the ‘Holocaust by bullets’, was granted temporary enhanced protection by UNESCO under the 1954 Hague Convention, in addition to its inscription on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2023.

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Press release